KGJ Insurance Shropshire Cup 2nd Round Preview

Telford and North Shropshire Derbies, Repeat of first ever final, Bylet & Sinclair aim to topple last year's finalists

There are two tasty local derbies in the 2nd round of the KGJ Insurance Shropshire Cup as the competition hots up. The closest is between Mid Shropshire sides St Georges and Wrockwardine Wood, who meet at Newport. St Georges are top of the Mid Shropshire League after an excellent start to the season, but captain Paul Beer is taking nothing for granted. "Two good teams playing well on an interesting neutral green and throw in it's a local derby, it looks like it will be a cracking match played in a good spirit as always." Opposition skipper Josh Cotton responds "it is always a game the team looks forward to with plenty of banter on the side of the green. It will be a tough task against an inform St. Georges side who sit top of the league, don’t think there will much in the agg at the end so let’s hope we get the right result." There is also a rare North Shropshire Derby in this competition as Prees and District meet on Chester Road. District captain Mike Mullock is "expecting a close match. We both play the green in the league. In theory we are fielding a stronger team than against Trench (last round), so it should be an interesting game. It's nice not to have to travel far!" Prees skipper Matt Blackhurst says "obviously a bit of a shame to draw a local side but in the same way we know all of their available players and are quietly confident of being able to get the job done. In my opinion we've got a strong pool of players available for the competition and to get through this round so there's no reason for us to fear anyone going forward but we can't overlook the game and I'll be reminding the players of that tomorrow night."
Pontesbury meet Prince of Wales Hotel on Greenfields in a repeat of the first ever final of this competition in 2016. Prince of Wales Hotel have done so well so far this season with a memorable scalp of Hanmer in the County Cup, but attention now turns to regaining the Shropshire Cup. The two teams met on Friday on the Prince, with Pontesbury gaining an excellent 6 winners, and captain Dan Jones hopes to build on that. "Last week's result was a great result against a very strong and consistent team in the Prince. I think we are two teams very similar to each other and both have a strong 12 players and both have very similar expectations. We only have 12 first team players this year so we have had an excellent start to the season and want to carry on the form into this game with the Prince. Should be a good competitive game!" The two finalists from last year, Castlefields and Telepost, will be wanting to reach the final again and take on Mid Shropshire sides Sinclair and Bylet respectively. Sinclair skipper Stuart Church knows "it's going to be a big ask against the current holders but we'll go into it with no expectations and hopefully have 12 good games. We know nothing about the green (Bridgewater)." Bylet spokeswoman Cheryl Caswell also "doesn't know a lot about Telepost as a side, we know they have some good players individually and are a good division one side. And with a good run in it last year to the final we know they will be hoping to go one further this time round. But we will be hoping to improve on our quarter final finish last year so we look forward to a good battle!" The two teams meet at Atcham Malthouse.
The remaining three ties are all Mid Shropshire against Tanners sides. Highley are former semi finalists and take on Crescent at Hodnet, with Crescent doing well in their return to division one this season. Bowring and Old Shrewsbury both had close wins in the last round and it promises to be close again when the two meet on District. Greenfields will be looking to cause a huge upset as they tackle Mid Shropshire Champions Hadley USC on Prees. The Division 3 side got a walkover last round while the Champions have had two big wins so far in this competition.